It’s been some time since the cookbook shelves were as attractive as they are this year. Big, beautiful, attention-getting cookbooks beckon from bookstore displays, from Thomas Keller’s “Ad Hoc” to Michael Psilakis’ “How to Roast a Lamb,” to “The Gourmet Cookbook,” by the editors of the late, great Gourmet magazine. In a year when folks are pulling back on vacation and restaurant spending, cookbooks ($10-$50 or so) suddenly seem like an affordable indulgence.

Here are The Denver Post’s picks for the best cookbooks of the year. Each enriches in its own way — some with great recipes, others with great writing, design or photography, others with great depth of information. All are fine additions to any kitchen library, and all make very good gifts.

See related recipes at right under related content.

“The Pleasures of Cooking for One,”

by Judith Jones (Knopf), $27.95

Judith Jones, at one time best known as Julia Child’s editor, is a skilled food and recipe writer, perhaps the most accomplished working today. This collection of simple but special recipes is written with confidence, clarity and humanity, with no extra words. Recipes like minced chicken on toast and ratatouille read like enduring holdovers from decades past, offering a welcome simplicity of flavor. Instructions are accurate, but not overdetailed; Jones assumes a certain aptitude in her reader.

“Salt to Taste: The Keys to Confident, Delicious Cooking,”

by Marco Canora (Rodale), $35

Too many chef cookbooks are really just ego-driven opportunities for chefs to show (or show off) their advanced techniques and recipes. But Marco Canora (of Hearth and Insieme in New York) and his co-writer Catherine Young write as if they really want the rest of us to be able to make their food, too. A convivial but authoritative tone inspires confidence in these dinner-party recipes for braised breast of veal, roasted artichoke hearts and stracciatella (Italian egg-drop soup).

“So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week,”

by Ellie Krieger (Wiley), $29.95

Some cooks have a remarkable eye for inventiveness, others for tradition. Ellie Krieger has an even rarer gift — knowing what people really want to eat now. Her food is stylish, accessible and very clearly conceived. In a food culture where overindulgence (more butter! more bacon!) is cheered, Krieger does a great service to home cooks and their families by keeping her recipes healthier than most. Of all the books on the list, this will — and should — see the most in-kitchen action; expect your copy to be dog-eared and food-stained. Standouts include savory peach chicken, chipotle-glazed pork chops and panzanella.

“The Fat Duck Cookbook,”

by Heston Blumenthal (Bloomsbury), $50

Audacious English super-chef Heston Blumenthal shocked the publishing world last year with his $250 “Big Fat Duck Cookbook,” which got a lot of press, but not a lot of eyeballs; it was simply too big and expensive for most of us. This year’s version, more modestly sized (but still massive) and more affordable, is not so much abridged as redesigned into a smaller format. The recipes are totally impractical for home cooks (ice-filtered lamb jelly, nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream), but the substantial, heavily designed book offers a rewarding glimpse into the nutty and brilliant brain of one of the world’s most influential cooks.

“Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes,”

by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (Knopf), $35

Bastianich, a PBS staple, is la regina of media- friendly Italian cooking. No television cook better understands what ambitious kitchen hobbyists are willing to try and what they’re capable of doing. Lidia covers much, but not all, of the boot in this collection (her sixth), dividing the country by region from Valle D’Aosta to Sardinia. Standout recipes include lamb chops with olives from Abruzzo and roasted chicken with beer from Trentino.

“The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook,”

by Elana Amsterdam (Celestial Arts), $16.99

Local hero Elana Amsterdam (straight out of Boulder) offers dozens of wheatless recipes from chicken parmesan to chocolate cake, all of which call for gluten-free almond flour. Enough of the recipes will appeal to gluten-eaters to make this collection a great go-to resource for blended families and/or hosts cooking for gluten-intolerant guests. Readers with a sweet tooth are especially well-served here, but savory recipes like salmon burgers round out the roster.

“Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking,”

by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo (Chronicle Books), $50

It’s a lovely looking monster, but a monster nonetheless — nearly 400 pages of precise, comprehensive information on Chinese cooking. Divided into 23 lessons (from “Creating a Chinese Pantry” to “Creating Menus in the Chinese Manner”), the course starts with basics like rice and stock before sweeping through regional takes on vegetable and meat cookery, with detours into so-called “wild exotics” like bird’s nest soup and braised abalone.

The great American myth about French food is that it’s stuffy and formal. Stephane Reynaud, who injected a splendid sense of whimsy into his seminal 2005 cookbook “Cochon et Fils” (renamed “Pork and Sons” for the U.S. market), jollily saunters forth with this big, fat homage to informal French cooking and eating, country and urban. Its clever mixed-media conceit combines photos with illustrations and instructions to help readers demystify tasks like oyster-shucking, discern between the Loire Valley chateaux and their wines, and acquire a Marseillaise accent just for kicks. But the backbone of the tome is timeless recipes, from classic cassoulet to “butcher’s wife’s pork chops.”

“Everyday Harumi: Simple Japanese Food for Family and Friends,”

by Harumi Kurihara (Octopus Books), $29.99.

Comfort food anchors this collection of family-oriented recipes from Harumi Kurihara, a hugely successful cooking and lifestyle guru in Japan. Just enough ink is spilled on the basics (cupboard staples and so forth), leaving ample room for full-bleed photos of nearly every recipe. And the recipes are fast and fresh: Chicken tonkatsu, tofu with crunchy toppings, green beans with ground pork. Kids will love this food. Bonus: Nearly all the recipes use ingredients available at most supermarkets.

“The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl,”

by Ree Drummond (Morrow), $27.50

Ree Drummond is the breakout food story of 2009, and if sales hold, this stands to be the best-selling cookbook of the year. Drummond’s popular “Pioneer Woman” blog, written from her home on a working ranch in rural Oklahoma, begat this charming, eminently useful cookbook which, like her blog, offers smart, efficient, real-world ideas for busy family meals. All recipes (from the predictable fried chicken to the positively edgy potato-leek pizza) come with a series of how-to photographs, Drummond’s calling-card.

“Venezia: Food & Dreams,”

by Tessa Kiros (Andrews McMeel Publishing), $34.99

Lavish and sexy, Tessa Kiros’ latest paen to the glamorous side of global food culture zeroes in on Venice. Artsy travel photos share equal billing and space with tony maritime Italian recipes, which makes this as much a coffee-table book as anything else. Armchair cooking doesn’t get much more luxurious. Will you actually make these recipes (duck with anchovies and capers, pork in milk, amaretti tart)? Perhaps, and you will be rewarded if you do. But a book this beautiful is about feeding the eyes as much as the stomach.

COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

“Momofuku,” by David Chang and Peter Meehan (Clarkson Potter), $40.

Chef John Broening reviews the cookbook, above, right under related content.

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